


sense of presence

by rangerhitomi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-03
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-28 06:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/989004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerhitomi/pseuds/rangerhitomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>autumn was a time for comfortable clothing, bonfires, baked apples, and spending time with best friends</p>
            </blockquote>





	sense of presence

It was early autumn; the air was cool and smelled often of bonfires and hot cider. Yuma loved this time of year, because his grandmother made delicious baked apples that he would sit and eat by the bowlful. She chided him that he should go share some with his friends, and he readily agreed, with one friend firmly in mind.

He walked along a familiar tree-lined walkway, a few leaves drifting down on him as he walked, clutching a bowl in one hand and a couple of flowers in the other. It was beautiful; the leaves beginning to change color, from green to yellow, reminded him that winter was only a couple of months away. But he always enjoyed the feeling of autumn – the crisp breeze, the sweets, the sweaters and light jackets and scarves – no matter how fleeting.

He pushed open the creaky gate leading to the old Kamishiro residence. Shark and his sister had taken up permanent residence here after the war with Barian World, but the vines snaked around the railings and up the sides of the house, so Yuma doubted much maintenance had been done on it since they had left it when their parents died. He visited every so often and it always looked the same.

As usual, he found Shark in the backyard, sitting on a bench by a stone marker. Shark gave Yuma a rare smile, the one he had always reserved for Yuma, and Yuma smiled back as he sat next to his best friend.

“I brought some baked apples.” Yuma held out the bowl. “Gran made them this morning.”

Shark picked up a slice of apple and popped it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, but a content look crossed his face, so Yuma knew he was enjoying it.

The first time Yuma had visited the Kamishiro house – properly visited; not the time he had burst in just in time to see Shark tag dueling with IV against a jellyfish Barian thing – he had felt a little uncomfortable, since Shark spent a lot of time sitting on a vine-covered stone bench, gazing at the grave marker over which his parents’ ashes lay. But Shark had invited him to sit, and they had sat in silence for a long while. Every time Yuma came to visit, Shark would be there; sometimes they would have a quiet conversation; other times, they would sit silently.

Shark missed his parents very much, Yuma knew – he understood that feeling painfully well – and his reawakening as Nasch had jolted him to the realization that he had lost two sets of parents in his lifetimes.

Yuma watched Shark swallow the apple and held out the bowl. “You can have as many as you want.”

“Thanks. Tell your grandmother they’re really good.”

“You should come over sometime,” Yuma said eagerly as Shark put another one in his mouth. “Gran makes really good hot cider too. You’d really like it.”

He waited a minute until Shark finished chewing. He rarely spoke with food in his mouth. Yuma wondered if his parents had ever chastised him for doing it. “Maybe soon. Rio and I are still getting used to being here. It feels strange to leave.”

Yuma nodded understandingly and only then seemed to realize he was holding the flowers. He thrust them at Shark, who stared at them in bewilderment. “I almost forgot! These are for you!”

A faint splotch of pink appeared in Shark’s cheeks as he took them. “Lotus flowers?”

“It was Sis’s idea.” Yuma shrugged, smiling shyly. “I think they’re kinda pretty.”

Shark gazed at them, a different kind of smile creeping over his face; a sad smile, a reminiscent one. Yuma looked away and glanced up at the tree towering over the headstone. “I love autumn,” he said abruptly.

“Mm?” Shark glanced sideways. “What brought this on?”

Yuma pointed up at the tree. “It’s such a big tree, but it needs warmth and sunlight to live. Snow and ice would destroy it. But it knows how to live through the winter, and it starts protecting itself in the autumn time. Even though it looks like it’ll never be the same again, when spring arrives, it wakes up and changes back to how it was before. I think that’s so cool, and it all starts now.”

Shark ran his thumbs over the lotus petals, brow furrowing. He didn’t say anything, but Yuma had enough to say for the both of them.

“It reminds me of you, in a way. You tried to throw away your old self when you became a Barian, to protect yourself, I guess, but after you went through your painful winter, you reawakened as your old self again.” Yuma gave him another smile.

There was a slight movement in Shark’s hand, as though he wanted to reach over to Yuma – and Yuma wanted him to, he realized – but he pulled his hand onto his lap instead. “I don’t know if…” He trailed off and gazed intently at the grave marker for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

Yuma waited patiently for a few minutes as Shark’s eyes filled with tears; he felt his own eyes well up. How far they had come together in such a short time, how much Shark trusted Yuma that he would let Yuma see him at his most vulnerable.

“I didn’t do it to protect just myself,” Shark said finally. “I cast off my old self to protect you. I didn’t want to hurt you but I thought if maybe… if maybe I pretended I didn’t care about you anymore, you’d be able to bring yourself to fight me with no regrets. I _needed_ you to do that.” His shoulders slumped and the tears streaked down his face. “I needed you to do it so my soul could finally be at peace.” His voice quivered and he rubbed his hand over his cheeks. “You should get back before it gets dark.”

Yuma nodded, wiping the tears off his own face as he stood, picking up the full bowl of baked apple slices. He reached out with his other hand and ran his fingers over the familiar names engraved in the stone, next to two unfamiliar names.

_Ryoga and Rio Kamishiro._

“I’ll come back soon,” he said to the empty stone bench. “I miss you, Shark.”

There was no response as he headed out of the creaky gate of the abandoned mansion, inhabited only by four souls of a family that had gone too soon.


End file.
